Crimebusters
by DiscordianSamba
Summary: AU. Told in a series of oneshots. When a strange new kid, Danny Fenton, arrives at Casper Elementary, Sam and Tucker take to him, and his ghost dog Cujo, instantly. Following a suggestion from Sam, the four of them decide to form the Crimebusters, to solve all of the mysteries going on in Amity Park, using Danny's ability to see ghosts- and then maybe sometimes break for snacks.
1. The Case of First Meetings

Author's Note: So I have been writing a few of these cute little devils on Tumblr for awhile now so I thought I would put them on here too? I guess I should give you a warning because they are SUGARY SWEET. This will probably be told in a series of chronologically out of order oneshots, since there's really no need to plot very hard with this. It's just... cute kids doing cute things and trying to be detectives sometimes. And who doesn't like that?

Danny Phantom does not belong to me, obviously.

* * *

The Case of the First Meetings

Crimebusters AU

Summary: For every story, there is a beginning.

* * *

"Alright Danny, are you sure you have everything?" Maddie asked again, kneeling down on the ground in front of her son, a gentle hand resting on his shoulder. "Did you remember your lunch box? You have your pencils? Crayons? What about your tissues? Did you remember your hand sanitizer, just in case? Public school bathrooms can be a little icky."

"I got everythin' momma." Danny told her, the little five year old boy frowning a little as he looked towards the classroom. "What if nobody likes me?"

"I'm sure they will!" Maddie assured him, giving her son a tight hug. "There's plenty to like about you Danny. Just be yourself, and I'm sure that you'll make friends in no time, okay?" She told him, ruffling his hair a little. "You're a great kid, Danny, I promise you that you'll make friends here. That's why we moved here." She told him.

Well, they had actually moved to Amity Park because of other reasons in concern to Danny, but he didn't need to know about that. He wasn't old enough to understand yet. She was a little worried that suddenly moving away from their old city and transferring schools would be rough on him, but for the most part, he seemed to be taking it well.

"Okay momma." Danny nodded his head, giving her a hug back. "You'll be here to pick me up after school?" He asked her, looking hopeful.

"Of course." Maddie smiled at him. "No go on. You don't want to keep your new teacher waiting." She said, standing up. "Have a good day, Danny."

"I'll try." The little boy frowned a bit, trying to seem hopeful, but not quite ready to believe his mother's words just yet. She had said the same thing about his last school, and that hadn't ended up very well at all, even though he had tried really hard! Glancing down at Cujo, he reached down, petting the ghost dog on the head a little, who gave him a reassuring bark. Taking in and letting out a deep breath, Danny entered into his new classroom, where class had already started.

"Ah, here we are!" Mr. Lancer broke away from his ramblings, looking over as the door entered, and the new student walked in. He glanced up briefly, waving back to the boy's mother a little, before he looked back down at Danny. "Mr. Fenton! What a pleasure it is to have you join us!"

"Class, this is the new student I was telling you about." Mr. Lancer told them, stepping away from his desk and putting a hand on the young boy's shoulder. "This is Daniel Fenton, he had to change schools due to family reasons." He explained- or at least, that's what he had been told. "Do you have anything you like to be called, Daniel?"

"D-Danny." The little boy stammered a little, peering out from underneath his messy bangs. "I like being called Danny."

"Ah, an excellent name!" Lancer smiled, turning to face his classroom. "Everyone, please do your best to make Danny feel right at home. Having to move can be a very trying time for a child his age, so let's try and make his transition as easy as possible." He told them.

"Mr. Lancer!" One of the students, a blonde girl with blue eyes raised her hand. "What's a trans-transpition?"

"Transition." The balding man corrected her. "A type of change, moving away from one thing to another. Don't worry, it won't be on your next spelling test." He said with a chuckle, before looking down at Danny. "There's a seat free in between Miss Manson and Mr. Foley." He told him, before glancing in that direction. "Mr. Foley? Could you please raise your hand since Miss Manson is in timeout?"

"I'm not staying in here forever!" A girl's voice could be heard grumpily calling out from the back of the room, where she had been placed in a chair and was facing the wall.

"That's five more minutes for talking out of turn, Miss Manson!" Lancer called out. "There, see Danny, there's Mr. Foley right over there." He said, motioning towards a boy with very large glasses who had raised his hand.

"Mm." Danny nodded his head, adjusting the strap of his backpack as he headed back towards the desk, taking a seat on it after slinging his backpack on the back of his chair. The boy who sat next to him turned to give him a big grin, clearly excited about this new transfer student.

"Hi!" He whispered, offering him his hand. "I'm Tucker Foley! The grumpy girl over in timeout is my best friend Sam. Your name's Danny?"

"Un-huh." Danny said, giving him a slight nod, frowning at the hand a little. After a moment of hesitation, Danny reached out to take it, hoping that he wouldn't give the boy a nasty shock.

No luck there, as Tucker clearly winced a little, a spark flying between their hands. "Whoa!" He said, laughing a little. "That's some static problem you got there." He told him, seemingly pleased by his knowledge of the word 'static'. "My grandpa's the same way, always shocking people left and right." He told him. "Where did you move from?"

"Wisconsin." Danny told him, giving the boy a small smile. He seemed nice- maybe his mom was right, maybe he was going to be able to make friends here after all. "Borley, Wisconsin."

"Never heard of it!" Tucker said bluntly, before grinning again. "You're going to like Casper Elementary, Danny. I promise."

"Mr. Foley, Mr. Fenton." Lancer called out, raising a brow. "Please keep it down, we are trying to have a lesson. You have plenty of chances to get to know each other later."

"Okay!" Tucker called out, grinning. He turned back to Danny then, whispering a little. "Sam and I will talk to you at arts and crafts period then, Danny. That is, if she ever gets out of timeout."

"What did she do?" Danny whispered, giving a curious glance back towards the black haired girl.

"She punched Ricky Marsh in the nose." Tucker told him, motioning towards a red haired child with a baseball cap, who already seemed to have a bruise forming around the nose in question. "He called her cute on the first day in kindergarten, and she's never forgiven him for it. You want to steer clear of saying anything like that to Sam."

Danny gave a quick nod, his eyes going wide. He didn't want to get hit!

He turned back towards his lesson then, pulling out his notebook and listening to his new teacher talk. Glancing briefly down at Cujo, who had curled up by Danny's feet, apparently dozing off, the little boy smiled a little, thinking that maybe this new school wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

Trouble started when it was time for reading and writing lessons. Mr. Lancer was going over the spelling list for the week, and was calling up students to come and try their hand on the blackboard to write out a word of his choosing. Danny had squirmed in his seat a little upon hearing about this, secretly hoping that his new teacher wouldn't call on him. He didn't want to mess up in front of the whole class and write something strange.

His mother had told him it was 'ghost speak' and the fact that he knew it had a lot to do with the reason he could see them in the first place. She told him it was just part of him that made him special and unique, and that he shouldn't be ashamed of it. But as much as she said that, Danny had been picked on whenever he slipped into it at his old school, even by some of his teachers. They thought he was a bad kid and a liar when he told them he couldn't tell any difference between his 'nonsense words' and English.

He wasn't so lucky, it seemed.

"Mr. Fenton?" Lancer asked. "Would you like to come up and try a word? I don't quite know where you were at your old school, so I'll give you something simple."

"O-okay." Danny slowly nodded his head, looking a bit hesitant. If he refused, the students might think he was weird, and he didn't want that. Maybe he would be just fine. Getting up out of his seat, he heard Tucker whisper 'good luck' to him, and the boy took a deep breath, fighting back his nervousness.

"Mr. Fenton, your word is right." Lancer told him. "As in, right or wrong." He clarified after a moment.

He could write that! Danny thought to himself, eyes shining brightly, a few crackles of electricity coming off his hair. The teacher took notice of it, but said nothing- he had already been informed of Danny's little static problem. Taking a piece of the colorful chalk, he stood on the little bench that had been set down, and scribbled down the word, turning to look happily at his teacher after he was done. "Right!" He said, grinning from ear to ear.

And then he heard the snickering from the rest of the class.

"Ah, Mr. Fenton I don't think that's quite correct..." Lancer began, frowning a little at the strange series of symbols on his chalkboard. They appeared like words to a degree, but he couldn't make out what they were saying- clearly not the word he had assigned Danny to spell. He had read about this on the student's profile as well, but he didn't expect to run into Danny's language problem so quickly. "Would you perhaps like to try one more time?" He asked him, trying to keep his voice gentle.

It wasn't Danny's fault that this had happened, Lancer reminded himself. Clearly his brain was just wired a bit differently from the rest of the class. Frowning a little, he turned towards his snickering class. "Now class, this isn't funny. It's just as simple error. It's not polite to laugh at other students."

Danny's face, however, was now bright red, and from the little sparks of electricity that came out from his hair, it seemed as if the laughter was getting to him. He seemed to be trying very hard not to cry.

"_Enough_." Lancer repeated. "The next student I hear so much as a giggle from is going to be sent over to the timeout corner with Miss Manson." That shut his students up, and got a grumble from the girl who had been reunited with the timeout corner after spending no more than twenty minutes out of it for writing 'poop' on the board instead of her chosen word. "Mr. Fenton, if you would like to try again...?"

"O-okay." Danny stammered, slowly nodding his head. It would be okay, right? He could still do this. Taking in a deep breath, he shakily reached for the chalk, concentrating as hard as he could on writing the word in English this time.

"Very good, Mr. Fenton! Your handwriting could use a bit of work, but that is the correct spelling." Lancer told him, to which the boy let out a sigh of relief. "Do you think you could use the word in a sentence for the rest of the class now?" He asked.

"I'll try." Danny nodded his head, stepping down from the bench, looking over the class, some of them still obviously finding what he wrote on the board funny. He seemed happy, however, to see that Tucker didn't seem to be one of those students. Racking his brain for a sentence, he quickly decided on one, something he heard his sister say from time to time. "Sometimes it's hard to do what's right, but **it is always good."** He finished.

And then there was more laughter.

_Oh no._

Mr. Lancer sighed, patting the student on the shoulder, giving him a sympathetic look. Danny really was trying, he could tell that much, and he was probably used to getting this sort of reception from his fellow classmates. "Class, don't laugh. Mr. Fenton has a few language issues, but it's _nothing _to make fun of him about. If this keeps up, all of you except for Mr. Fenton, Mr. Foley, and Miss Manson, the latter two who have not laughed even once, will be staying inside for recess."

The class shut up again, but it didn't seem to be quite enough to keep the little boy from starting to tear up again. A mild electric shock caused Lancer to remove his hand from the boy's shoulder, as sparks flew out from his hair, as the five year old bit down on his lip, clenching his fists and trying very hard to put on a brave face. Clearly this was a special student, if the small sparks that emitted from what tears did fall from his eyes were any indication.

But he was a student nonetheless, and at the moment, was a very upset little boy. "You did very well, Danny." Lancer assured him. "Go on and take your seat."

Danny slowly nodded, rubbing away the few stray tears from his eyes, heading to his desk and taking a seat in it, almost not daring to look over at Tucker. Mister Lancer had said that Tucker hadn't laughed, but he still probably thought he was weird now.

"That was neat, what you wrote on the board." Tucker whispered instead, causing Danny to look up in surprise. "I'm sorry the other kids laughed at you. I thought it was cool looking."

"T-thanks." Danny stammered, sniffing a little. "Momma says it's cause I'm special."

"Man, I wish I was special." Tucker frowned. "I don't know what I'm good at yet. I know a lot of things, but I don't think that's quite a talent. Do you know a whole 'nother language, Danny?" He asked.

"Yeah." Danny whispered, nodding his head. Sensing the feelings of his friend, Cujo jumped in Danny's lap, giving him a lick, before settling down, curling up to go back to sleep. Resting his hands on the ghost dog, Danny smiled fondly at him, scratching him underneath the ears.

"Is there something on your lap?" Tucker asked, frowning a little.

Danny flushed red again, suddenly remembering that nobody else could see Cujo, sparks crackling from the boy's hair as he turned towards Tucker. He hadn't laughed at his ghost language, and he had even thought it was cool, so maybe- maybe he would be okay with this. "It's a dog." Danny whispered. "It's a ghost dog."

There was a long pause then, as Tucker blinked a little, frowning- and then his eyes went wide, and he nearly leaned out of his chair. "You can see ghosts!?" He hissed, a little louder than he intended.

Danny flinched a little, before slowly nodding. "Un-huh. You don't think that's... weird, do you?" He asked, hesitating.

"No way, that's so _cool_! I can't wait to tell Sam!" Tucker said.

"Mr. Foley!" Lancer spoke up, looking over towards him. "Perhaps you would like to take Miss Manson's place in timeout?" He asked him, before looking over towards the sulking girl in question. "Miss Manson, you can return to your desk now. Please do keep quiet. Again, you can get to know your new classmate during arts and crafts if you feel so inclined."

Danny barely even heard the teacher- he was still too awestruck by the fact that Tucker's reaction to learning about his ghost sight was not to freak out or call him a liar- but he said he was _cool_! Nobody had ever called him that before, ever! Maybe- Maybe he really could be friends with this kid! Oh, Danny hoped so. He had never had a human friend before in his whole life!

"Finally!" Sam grumbled, getting up from the little chair and stomping back over to her desk, sitting back down in it. She smiled briefly over at Danny, but clearly didn't want to take her chances with the timeout chair anymore for the day, so quickly went back to her own work. Or at least, Danny thought she had, but a quick glance over towards her notebook revealed that she was just drawing bears instead.

He couldn't wait until arts and crafts period! Maybe he really would be able to make some new friends- with this Tucker boy, and maybe his friend Sam. He'd never really talked to girls his own age before though, and to be honest, he was a little intimidated by what he heard about her earlier. But... she hadn't laughed at him earlier, and Tucker seemed to like her, so maybe they could be friends too!

Today was going to be a good day after all.

When Mr. Lancer finally spoke up, announcing to the student's that it was time for arts and crafts, Danny couldn't be happier. He would finally get a real chance to talk to Tucker- and this Sam girl too! Cujo leapt from his human friend's lap, giving him a sharp bark as Danny got up.

"You don't need to get up." Sam spoke up, grinning as she scooted her desk over. "We join our desks here. I'm Sam, by the way. Sam Manson! I liked your stunt up at the blackboard."

"It wasn't a stunt." Danny frowned a little, although he did seem thrilled that she was joining him without so much as a second thought- and even more so when Tucker scooted his desk over.

"Sam, wait until you hear this!" Tucker grinned, his eyes shining. "Danny here can see ghosts! How cool is that?"

"Really?" Sam asked, leaning in, her own violet eyes going wide. "That's so neat! I wish I could!" She told him, her darting around the classroom. "Are there any here right now!?"

"Just Cujo." Danny told them shyly, before realizing that they wouldn't know who Cujo was. He was still more than a little floored that they had taken to him so quickly- especially given the fact that they had seen him do weird things already. But they didn't seem to mind, either of them, and he honestly wasn't quite sure what to make of it. At his old school, everyone avoided him, and they called him names- sometimes even the teachers did behind his back, he knew. So to have already met two kids his age who didn't seem to care- who even seemed thrilled to meet someone with his unique talents- was quite the change for him.

"Cujo's my dog. He's a ghost." Danny told them, kicking his feet a little, as Cujo barked in response. But what if they thought he was just making things up? Danny didn't want that either. "Cujo." Danny instructed, and the green, glowing dog perked up, wagging his tail eagerly and awaiting his master's command. "Kiss."

With that, Cujo let out a loud bark, unheard by anyone other than Danny. Jumping up on Sam's desk, the dog gave the girl a big kiss on the face, causing her to yelp a little when she felt a cold, wet sensation on her face. The dog jumped over to Tucker's desk, doing the same, and causing much the same reaction.

"Wow, there really is a ghost dog in here!" Tucker grinned, feeling around for Cujo and failing at this. "That's so _cool_, Danny." He repeated again.

"Y-you think so?" Danny asked, his face flushed a bright shade of red, a crackle of sparks all but jumping from his hair. He could hear Sam let off a loud whistle, and flushed harder- that was right, normal kids couldn't do that, could they? He had caused his parents all sorts of trouble with that, breaking all kinds of things all over the house, even though he had never meant to. Sometimes he even broke things at his old school, or while he was out and about at his old hometown. Everyone looked at him like he was some kind of jinx for it.

"Can you shoot lightning bolts or something?" Sam whispered, furtively glancing about the classroom, trying to see that nobody was listening in.

"No." Danny shook his head. "Momma says I just got an 'lectricity problem." He told her. "Y-you two don't think I'm weird?" He asked them after a moment, frowning a little.

"No way!" Sam shook her head, her eyes going bright. "You're not weird! I've never met a kid like you, Danny, and I think that's neat! I'm all about uni-" she scrunched her nose a little, as if she was trying to recall a word a bit beyond her own abilities. "Uni- _special _stuff!"

"R-really?" Danny asked, his eyes going wide. "U-um." He hesitated again, before taking a deep breath, gathering up all his nerve as he looked between the two of them. "U-um. Will- will you two be my friends?" He finally spat out, clenching his fists tight as he nervously awaited their answer.

Which came almost in an instant.

"Yeah!" Tucker cried out, grinning from ear to ear.

"Sure." Sam smiled at him. "Let's be friends, Danny."

And then, although he had managed to hold them in earlier at the blackboard, Danny's eyes teared up again, and he started to cry in earnest. As his crackling tears trailed down his cheeks, Sam and Tucker were quick to jump up, horrified that they had done or said something wrong, but it was okay. Danny wasn't crying because he was upset, not this time.

He was just so very, very _happy_.


	2. The Case of the Playground Prankster

Author's Note: I actually have several of these written already that I plan to release on here rather gradually. They're really fun to write, to be honest, and are wonderful stress relief! Nothing is more fun than cute kids doing cute things. **Bold text** is in Ghost language, as a note.

Danny Phantom isn't mine.

* * *

The Case of the Playground Prankster

Summary: When someone is causing trouble at recess, it's up to the Crimebusters to solve the case!

* * *

"There's a mystery that we need to get to the bottom of." Danny grumpily reported as the seven year old boy took a seat with his friends at their normal lunch table outdoors. Their teacher, Mr. Lancer, was hovering a few feet away, grading tests from earlier that afternoon as his class ate.

"Is it the mystery of why Ricky Marsh is such a butt?" Sam glowered, shooting a glare towards the back of the lanky kid's head. Almost as if sensing this, Ricky shuddered in response and did his very best to look little.

"I don't think that's a mystery that needs solving." Tucker commented, glancing over towards Sam, before taking a bite out of his ham and turkey sandwich.

"No." Danny pouted, as he opened up his lunchbox, and his dour look quickly brightened when he saw that his mother had packed his favorites that day, and quickly began digging into the desert his mother had set aside, biting into the ghost shaped cookie. "Oh!" He said quickly then, realizing that he was talking about something, little sparks crackling from his messy black hair as he did so.

"That's right, the mystery!" Danny said quickly. "Someone's been playing mean pranks at the other kid's recesses today." He told them. "Like pushing 'em off the slide and the swings and stuff an putting mud down their pants."

"I don't want to get mud down my pants!" Tucker quickly whispered, his hands flying back to his butt as if he thought it would happen right away. "Momma got real mad the last time I came home with dirt all in my pants, I don't think she'd be real happy if I came home with them all dirty again!"

"A bully, huh?" Sam asked, smacking her fist into her hand, a fierce grin appearing on her face. "I'll teach 'em that nobody messes with the kids here on my turf."

"Aren't you kind of a bully yourself though, Sam?" Tucker dryly commented, then cringed, covering his face when Sam turned her fearsome glare towards him.

"I'm no bully!" She huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I just like to beat up the bullies."

"I don't think Ricky Marsh is a bully." Tucker pointed out, regaining some of his bravado.

"Ricky Marsh called me _cute _in kindergarten." Sam protested, sending another glower the boy's way, who was now seriously considering hiding underneath the picnic table. "And then he threw up in my lunch box that one time. I'll never forgive him for that."

Tucker and Danny cringed internally at that, exchanging a look. Sam had no idea that it was actually Tucker who had vomited in her lunchbox that day- and it would probably be better if she never did.

"I don't think it's someone you can beat up, Sam." Danny said matter of factly, pausing to munch on the last of his cookies, pouting when he realized that he was all out. Moving on to his grilled cheese sandwich, bread sliced in the shape of a rocket ship, he took a contemplative nibble on it before turning back to the matter at hand. "The kids say they all see 'em, but the adults don't see nothin'." He reported, shaking his head.

"Poop." Sam huffed, clearly disappointed that this was not something that would involve her pummeling something.

"Sam!" Tucker hissed, his eyes going wide. "You can't say that! You'll get in trouble!"

"I'll say whatever I want!" Sam glowered. "Poop! Poop! _Poooooop_~!"

"Miss Manson, please watch your language." Mr. Lancer glanced up from his table, looking over at the children. "There is nothing humorous about the urinary system."

"Come on Sam, you're gonna get us in trouble." Danny pouted, little sparks crackling around his hair as he looked at her. "I don't wanna go to time out again. Dash made a joke the other day that it's like my second home."

"_Fiiiine_." Sam huffed, going back to her granola bar. "You make it sound like the school playground is being haunted, Danny."

"Mm." Danny nodded his head. "I think so. It's a ghost that probably only little kids like us can see." He told them. "I haven't seen it myself yet, I think it's hidin' from me." He said, continuing to nibble on his grilled cheese. "We need to tell him to stop doing bad things though. Kids are already being sent to the nurse's office with scrapped knees an' stuff."

Tucker shuddered at that. "I don't wanna go to the nurses office, Danny! She's a scary lady."

"Well, I kind of need you two to corner him." Danny began, and was soon met with a whoop of excitement from Sam and a groan from Tucker. "Cujo an' I can talk to him after that."

"Yeah, but what if words don't work?" Sam asked. "You're too naive, Danny! Sometimes you just have to work things out with your fists! That what Gran-Gran always says."

"Exactly what kind of life did your Gran-Gran lead?" Tucker asked, quirking a brow.

"An awesome one!" Sam huffed, throwing up her hands. "Sides, Danny, if you let him stick around maybe you could convince the other kids that you aren't just a crazy butt."

"Miss Manson, _language_!" Mr. Lancer looked up again, clearly exasperated. One of these days he was going to seriously consider washing out that girl's mouth with soap.

"_Buuuutttttt_!" Sam cried out in response, shrieking a little when the overweight teacher got to his feet, and grabbed her lunch box, hurrying off, leading him on a grand chase around the picnic area. He eventually scooped her up, presumably carrying the struggling child over towards the timeout corner where she would be spending the last few minutes of their lunch period.

"She never learns." Tucker shook his head mournfully, feeling for their fallen comrade. "So we're going to round up this prankster ghost at recess? Are you sure that's such a good idea Danny? What if it's not a nice ghost, like Cujo." He blinked, looking around. "Where is Cujo anyways?"

"Chasing ghost squirrels over there." Danny reported to him. He knew that his two friends couldn't see Cujo when he was in his puppy form, he could only become visible when he got all big. "He'll come and help though."

"Do you think Mr. Lancer will let Sam out of timeout before then?" Tucker asked, sounding a bit nervous. "I don't wanna be bait by myself, Danny. I don't want scrapped knees or mud in my pants." He shook his head.

"I'm sure he will!" Danny reassured him, then frowned a little. "Maybe. Probably. If Sam doesn't do anything else."

"Great." Tucker groaned, throwing up his hands. "I'm going to be bait all by myself."

"What was that about me getting myself in trouble again?" Sam asked, glowering at the bespectacled boy. "You make it sound as if I have no self control, Tucker."

"I'm just saying Sam, you spend a lot of time in the time out corner. Almost as much time as Danny does." Tucker told her, holding up his hands in front of him. "And you actually get yourself in there by breaking the rules. Danny just gets thrown in there because the teachers are meanieheads and they don't understand nothing about his special talent."

"Guys, we need to focus!" Danny whined, stepping between the two. Cujo, done with the ghost squirrels, sat by the boy's feet, panting happily as he looked between the two. "Recess just started, which means the prankster is going to be showing up anytime now!"

"And then we corner him!" Sam grinned, clearly made the most happy by this prospect. "I'll show him not to pick on kids."

"I'm still not sure this is a good idea. Shouldn't we have an adult with us or something?" Tucker asked, sounding hesitant.

"Adults don't understand anything about kids problems!" Sam huffed, putting her hands on her hips. "They just shove us in the timeout corner and then they're done with us. They even think Danny's a liar about the ghosts and stuff! They don't listen and they don't understand!"

"Adults can't see him, remember Tucker?" Danny chimed in, sounding a bit meek. It was true that a lot of the teachers would just toss him into the timeout corner whenever they caught him talking to one of his ghost buddies, or playing with Cujo, but it was just because they couldn't see them. It wasn't normal to see ghosts, and he was smart enough to know that a lot of people didn't believe in them. His parents did though, and they said that they would always believe him, and that was more than enough for Danny.

A sharp bark from Cujo broke apart Danny's thoughts then, and he glanced towards the playground. "Heel, boy." He whispered, prompting Cujo to stay put for now. Sure enough, on the top of the slide, a pale looking specter began to form, right behind the unwitting form of Ricky Marsh. When the boy tumbled down from the slide with a yelp, the little ghost laughed, doubling over with a huge grin at this.

"...Are you sure we really should go through with this?" Sam asked, not even trying to conceal the giddy look on her face as she watched Ricky take a tumble, and grinned a bit more as the boy started crying. "I mean if he's just going to pick on Icky Ricky..."

"Sam!" Danny hissed, a few sparks flying out from his hair again. "Come on. You know what the Crimebusters motto is."

Sam pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Never let the bad guys get away no matter whats?"

"Un-huh." Danny nodded his head, turning his attention towards the ghost. He wasn't sure what Sam and Tucker saw, but the ghost that he could see was that of a little boy with very pale, sickly skin, and green hair and eyes. He was dressed up as a pirate, almost as if he were playing pretend. A game of pretend that was more than a little mean, Danny thought. "Can you see him?" He asked, glancing back at Sam and Tucker.

"A little." Sam said, squinting. "He's kind of hazy, but I can make him out." When Tucker nodded in agreement, Danny grinned.

"Okay, you know the plan!" He said, nodding to them. With a sharp whistle, he looked down at Cujo, pointing towards the ghost, who was moving away from the top of the slide now, apparently not having noticed them yet. "Cujo, chase!"

With a sharp bark and a wag of his tail, the little green ghost puppy took off, starting his pursuit of the child ghost. Now the ghost did notice them, and yelped flying off in an opposite direction from Cujo. Turning back to Sam and Tucker, Danny gave a nod, and they grinned at each other, each running off in their own direction. Heading the ghost off, Sam and Tucker both blocked his path of escape, while Cujo closed in on him. The two kids and the ghost puppy chased the child ghost towards the back of the school building, where they knew that Danny would be waiting for them if all went well.

"Gotcha!" Danny grinned, jumping off one of the picnic tables, tackling the child ghost from the air. The ghost boy yelped, seemingly surprised that someone could touch him, and found himself pinned to the ground by Danny, a triumphant grin on his face. Cujo hurried to join his friend, sitting in front of the child ghost's head, wagging his tail and giving the ghost boy a big lick, thinking this all as some sort of fun game.

**"Lemme go!" **The ghost kid squirmed, pouting and kicking his feet. **"You shouldn't be able to touch me!"**

**"I can!" **Danny grinned brightly, and Sam and Tucker groaned in the background. There he went again, going on in that language that neither of them could understand. He'd tried to teach it to them, back in first grade, but they found themselves unable to really comprehend the basics of it. Danny's mom had said it was 'ghost speak' or something once and Danny was special so he could use it, and she'd also told them to be good friends with him and let him know when they couldn't understand him, because sometimes he didn't even know when he was using it.

**"I'm not gonna let you go!" **Danny declared, continuing to sit on the little ghost. **"You were being mean and picking on my classmates. You shouldn't be mean!"**

**"I was just playing around!" **The ghost protested. **"What's with you anyways? You shouldn't be able to talk like this. I never met any other human who could! You're weird!"**

**"I'm not weird!" **Danny pouted, sparks flying from his hair. **"I've just got special talents! That's what my momma says."**

"Danny~" Sam whined. "We can't understand a word you're saying. Are you talking to the ghost?"

**"Oh!" **Danny looked startled, glancing back at his friends, a sheepish look on his face. **"Yes! **I mean, yes! Sam and Tucker, you be guards, okay?"

"Okay!" Sam grinned, gleeful at this prospect. "Nobody's going to get past me, Danny!"

"They might get past me." Tucker admitted after a moment, but he seemed to reluctantly accept his duty.

**"Your friends can't understand me, can they?" **The little ghost asked, sounding awfully smug for someone securely pinned. As if sensing that this ghost was taunting his friend, Cujo let out a low growl, and Danny glanced towards him.

**"Easy, Cujo." **Danny said, before glancing back down at the little boy ghost. **"What's your name? Why are you hurting the kids on the playground? I don't think they've done anything to you."**

**"I'm just having fun. And you can call me Youngblood. I'm not giving you my real name, the big ghosts, they told me how that works." **Youngblood told him.** "I'm finally having the time of my life here, and I don't intend to go nowhere."**

**"Your fun is a little mean." **Danny pouted. **"People are getting hurt and sent to the nurse's office because of you. Why can't you play nice with them?"**

**"Nobody ever played with me when I was alive, so why should I care about them now?" **Youngblood pouted. **"It's funny watching 'em fall off the slides and stuff. Why do you have to spoil my fun?"**

**"That's not funny, you could really hurt someone someday!" **Danny pouted. **"If friends are all you want, you could play with me and Sam and Tucker."**

**"Hah! Like you would actually play with me." **Youngblood shook his head. **"Nobody ever wanted to be my friend."**

"Sam, Tucker?" Danny looked over at them, catching their attention. "I think he's just lonely and really bored. We should try playing with him!"

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Tucker asked again, sounding hesitant. "I mean, he's been pushing people around. Maybe he's just mean, Danny."

"Well, he pushed Ricky Marsh off the slide, so he can't be all that bad!" Sam grinned. "Come on Tucker, if Danny says it's okay, we should give it a chance. Besides, it's not often we meet a ghost that you and I can sorta see too! Don't you think it's kind of neat?"

**"See?" **Danny grinned at Youngblood. **"They wanna play with you! And me too!" **He told him, getting to his feet and letting him go, offering him a hand. **"We should be friends. Sam and Tuck know all sorts of fun games that we can play together! And there's Cujo too! And best of all, then you won't have to be mean to anyone to have fun!"**

Sensing his friend's change in mood, Cujo barked again, wagging his tail and looking eagerly at Youngblood, who floated up a bit now that he was released.

**"W-well, maybe." **Youngblood said after a moment.** "I mean if the four of you are that bored, I guess I can play with you! But don't get the wrong idea or anything, this doesn't exactly make us friends."**

Danny didn't seem to really hear the last part, and instead grin widely, grabbing Youngblood by the hand and dragging him over to his two human friends. "He said yes!" He declared excitedly, a bundle of sparks crackling from his hair as he did so, his blue eyes shining brightly. "Come on, let's go play some before recess is over! Maybe the see-saws are vacant!"

"If they're not, I'll make 'em vacant!" Sam grinned, pounding her fist into her hand again, hurrying after Danny and the shimmering form of the ghost kid that she could barely see. "Come on Tucker, or we'll leave you behind!"

Tucker hesitated a little, still clearly not certain if making friends with a ghost aside from Cujo was such a good idea- but the thought of being alone won out, and he quickly hurried behind them. "Wait up! I want to play on the see-saw too!"

Tucker would have to remember to write this all down in the Crimebusters casebook log later though. April 17th, the day they solved the mystery of the playground prankster ghost by befriending it. Life sure was a lot more interesting with Danny around.


	3. The Case of the Family Bonding

Author's Note: I think this one is one of my favorites to be honest. Apparently if you make Danny into a small, adorable child, family bonding fics get ten times cuter? Who even knew? Again, **bold text** indicates ghost speak.

Danny Phantom, of course, is not mine.

* * *

The Case of the Family Bonding

Summary: Having a child that's not like the other kids can be a bit troublesome, but that doesn't mean that his family loves him any less.

* * *

Maddie Fenton, inventor, wife, and ghost hunter extraordinaire, was busying herself with her latest gadget when her son came home from school that day. Today had nothing to do with ghosts, she had decided, and instead had set herself down to make some walkie talkies for her son and his two friends, through which they could communicate while playing their little game of detective. It was cute, how they went out and pretended to solve little mysteries around their school, and anything that Danny did with his friends, she wanted to encourage, so long as nobody got hurt.

After all, there had been a time when Maddie was deeply worried that Danny would ever be able to make friends at school, although the worry had all but flown out the door when Sam and Tucker first showed up on her doorstep, asking to play with Danny.

But from the looks of her son today, it seemed like not everyone in his class wanted to be friends with him still.

"Oh, honey!" Maddie said, setting aside her project, getting to her feet and hurrying over towards her son. "What happened to you? You're all covered in mud! Oh, and your knees are all skinned and your jeans are ripped!" She frowned deeply, carefully placing her hands on her son's shoulder, who looked like he was doing his very best not to cry.

Wiping a few stray tears from his cheeks, but also only succeeding in making his face even more muddy, Danny sniffed. "Dash pushed me in the mud." He told her, his voice shaking a little. "He got mad 'cause I was playing with Cujo, and then he called me mean names and pushed me in a mud puddle."

"Oh sweetie!" Maddie kneeled down in front of him, putting her hands on his face. "You poor thing! Let's go upstairs and get you cleaned up, okay? And I'll have a strong talk with that boy's parents later. I can't believe they let their son run around, bullying other children!" She sighed, getting to her feet and scooping up her son, cradling in her arms. "We'll even make it a bubble bath, how about that?"

"Un." Danny nodded his head, leaning into his mother's chest, still sniffling a little. Sam and Tucker had been both absent from school that day thanks to a cold, so he hadn't even been able to talk to them. No doubt Dash would have never even dared to try anything with Sam around, not considering that he seemed to be afraid of the girl.

Carrying her son to the bathroom, she sat him down on the counter, instructing him to stay put. Turning on the hot water, she poured in some of Danny's favorite bubble bath, and then turned back to him. "Do you want to scrub yourself, Danny, or do you need me here with you?" She asked. At seven, he was starting to want a little more independence from his parents, and although she wanted him to remain her baby forever, she still also knew that a good mother would listen to her son's wishes to a degree.

"I can do it." Danny said. "I'm a big boy." He told her. "Can Cujo come in the tub with me?" He asked, his eyes darting off to another corner of the room, and Maddie knew that even if she followed his gaze, she wouldn't see anything. "I promise he won't make a mess like last time."

"Only if he promises to not make a mess." Maddie said after a moment, rubbing her son's hair, kissing the top of his head before she placed him down from the counter. "I'll go get you a clean change of clothes, and you knock on the door when you're good and clean, okay sweetie?"

"He promises." Danny said, nodding his head. "Okay. Can I have the shirt with the rockets on it?" He asked.

"Of course you can!" Maddie grinned. "Anything you want. I'll be back in a few minutes." She told him, before she headed out the door. Once outside, she heaved a sigh, pausing for a few moments before she busied herself with her tasks at hand. She stopped first in her own room, changing out of her jumpsuit which was now muddy thanks to carrying her son around, and put on a clean one. Then she hurried to her son's room, and picked out a clean change of clothes, including his favorite rocketship T-shirt.

She smiled as she picked it up, folding it, and his other clothes, over one arm. Danny surely did love space. She and Jack had been working on something in secret lately, a surprise for his upcoming birthday, a telescope of his very own, one with all the bells and whistles of a store bought telescope, but not a chance of shorting out due to the electrical field her son seemed to subconsciously emit.

Heading down the hallway, she stopped in front of the bathroom door, listening to the sounds of her son laughing a little inside, doing a bit of splashing. Heaving a small sigh, she smiled a little still, even though she suspected she would have to thoroughly clean the bathroom again once he was done. But that was alright, he was just a little boy, and that's what little boys did, they made messes.

He was just a little boy, a normal little boy, just like all of his other classmates. Why couldn't some of them understand that? Even some of his teachers thought her son was strange and constantly tried to pull her aside for 'concerned' parent teacher conferences in which Maddie had to try and explain that nothing was _wrong _with Danny, this was just how he was naturally.

She was afraid that they were putting the wrong ideas into her son's head, and she couldn't be happier that he had managed to find some friends who accepted him just for who he was.

There was _nothing _wrong with her son. He was just different.

Her son loved space and the stars, and wanted to be an astronaut someday. He built toy rockets with his father, and went stargazing with her, and she taught him the names of all the constellations that she knew. He liked dogs, and would stop to pet them in the streets, cooing over them and giving them great big hugs. He liked playing with his friends, and they ran around having a grand time pretending to be detectives. He was just a normal little boy.

He was just also so very special. But she loved him anyways, even if he could see and interact with ghosts, just like he could with humans, even if he caused sparks to fly whenever he was very excited or deeply upset, even if he sometimes slipped into a language that she couldn't even begin to understand. Even if his temper tantrums were ten times more hazardous than a normal child's, and even if he sometimes caused electronic equipment to go on the flux.

To Maddie, Danny would always be a perfectly normal, sweet little boy, and would always be her precious son. She and Jack would do anything for him- which was why when they discovered the root cause of their son's troubles was ghosts, they decided to devote themselves to becoming ghost researchers and ghost hunters, so that they could better protect their baby boy from the various supernatural horrors that only he could seem to see. They had never doubted his claims for a second, always knew that their son was telling the truth when he got upset because 'there was something scary in the corner' that they couldn't see.

Why did everyone else have to call their son a liar? If they only would talk to him for a few minutes, they would know that it wasn't true. Her son was kind and honest, he would never lie, unless it was for the sake of someone else. Certainly, he would never lie just for attention. But still, ever since he had entered the first grade, she had teacher's pull her aside, asking her if she had gotten her son tested for any 'learning disabilities' because of the 'weird letters' he sometimes wrote and the 'weird language' he sometimes spoke. It was enough to make Maddie want to tear out her hair.

There was a knock on the door then, breaking her out of her thoughts. Smiling she cracked it open, casting one eye on the soggy, bubble filled bathroom beyond, and then looked down at her son, who was flushed bright red.

"We... made a little mess after all, momma." Danny said after a moment, averting his eyes from her.

"Oh, that's alright." Maddie said after a moment, rubbing his hair, sparks not flying for once due to it being damp. "I needed to clean in here anyways to get up all the mud. Don't fret about it Danny. Here are your clothes." She said, passing them to him. "Make sure to dry yourself properly."

"I will~!" Danny said, shutting the door behind him. "She's not mad Cujo, you can stop hiding!" He heard him call out from behind the door, and she shook her head. Why would something she couldn't even see hide from her in the first place? It was just a dog though, and Danny did love it so, which was why Maddie had taken great pains to keep any ghost tech she and her husband were working on well away from both Danny and his little ghostly puppy.

Once Danny emerged from the bathroom, both fully dressed and dried off, Maddie smiled at him. "What do you say to making some cookies?" She asked him, and his face lit up, faint sparks flickering from his drying hair as he quickly nodded. "Wonderful! We'll make chocolate chips, I bought some at the store the other day." She told him. It had been their little tradition, ever since he entered kindergarten, whenever Danny had a bad day, Maddie would bake with him.

After all, he had quite the sweet tooth, just like his father. Just like any other little boy would.

"I love chocolate chip cookies!" Danny said, his eyes going wide as he hurried down the stairs, his incident with the mud puddle all but forgotten. He tripped on the last step however, falling flat on his face, and sent Maddie hurrying down the stairs behind him. He looked up at her then, laughing a little, seeming no worse for wear. **"I fell."**

She didn't need to understand him to know what he had said, not this time. "You surely did, young man." Maddie told him, helping him to his feet. "Not hurt anywhere?"

Checking himself over, Danny quickly shook his head. "No." He told her. "Can we still make cookies?"

"Of course!" Maddie told him, taking his hand and leading him into the kitchen. "Do you think you can get the cookie sheets out, Danny?"

"Yup!" Danny nodded his head, scooting over towards the oven. He grunted a little, but finally moved the storage compartment underneath it, producing two silver cookie sheets, standing on his tiptoes to put them on top of the stove. Another grunt, and he shut the storage compartment again. "Got em~!" He dutifully reported to his mother.

"Very good!" Maddie said, busying herself gathering the baking supplies. "Go get your stepping stool." She told him, taking out the chocolate chips from the cabinet.

"Okay!" Danny nodded his head, hurrying off. When he came back to the room, he was carrying his stepping stool, which he placed promptly next to where Maddie was setting up the cooking supplies, and climbed up on it, looking eager and ready to go at it. In response to his mood, sparks flickered from his hair, making the already unruly mess stand on end even more than it normally did.

"Excellent! Now we're ready to make some cookies!" She said, pulling off her gloves and setting them aside. "Would you do the honor of holding my measuring cup?" She asked, passing the plastic cup to him. Most of their kitchenware was plastic, and they had obtained a rather colorful collection of it. Sure, it would never look good at a formal dinner party, but it did make everything all that more colorful!

"Oh, seems like we've got some baking going on in here!" Jack observed, wandering into the kitchen. He had been busy working on Danny's surprise in the lab, but Maddie suspected he had been drawn upstairs because he sensed sweets were about to be made. "What are we making today, sport?" He asked, ruffling his son's hair.

"Chocolate chip cookies!" Danny told him, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, those are the best!" Jack beamed, but exchanged a brief glance with his wife, who gave him a small nod, silently asking if something had happened to Danny at school today. "I hope you're making plenty, because if you're not careful Danny, I'll eat them all when you're not looking!" He teased.

"Noooo~!" Danny cried, but giggled, knowing full well his father was only joking- for the most part. His father _did _have a rather voracious appetite after all. **"You gotta save some for everyone else!"**

And there he went again, Maddie thought, but busied herself carefully pouring the flour into the measuring cup. "Don't worry sweetie, I'm sure he will save some. I won't let him eat all of the cookies." She told him, once again able to guess from the context as to what her son might be saying. When he could sometimes go on for hours in ghost speak, it was something of a skill one needed to pick up.

**"Okay!" **Danny grinned, nodding his head, before dumping the contents of the measuring cup into the mixing bowl, getting some flour on his hands. **"Can we put nuts in them too?"**

"Maybe." Maddie said. "We'll see." He probably wanted nuts in the cookies, she thought. "I don't know if we still have any."

"I think I might have polished them off the other day." Jack frowned, scratching his head as he tried to recall. "Yep, I definitely think that I did. Sorry, Danny my boy, my bad. We'll make chocolate chip cookies with nuts some other time."

**"Okay~." **Danny pouted a little, but quickly grinned again, looking towards his mother, eager for the next step. Maddie smiled, finishing with the flour, and moved on to the sugar. **"We gotta save some for Sam and Tucker too! Maybe they'll get better and **come back to school tomorrow!"

"We should." Maddie agreed. "I'm sure they'll be thrilled." She told him with a smile. It seemed that his bad day had already entirely slipped from his mind, just as Maddie had hoped. She would take Jack aside and have a chat with him later, and see how they should deal with that Baxter kid, but for now, her son's bright smile was all that she needed to see to make her happy.

She just wished other people would try to understand him better.


	4. The Case of the Home Invader

Author's Note: Okay this one is pretty cute as well. I actually had to stop to giggle to myself a few times while writing it because it was just that cute, I am not ashamed at all to say this. You might notice the new story picture, which was drawn by **ectoweenie **and I highly recommend that you go to their tumblr to look at the rest of their art and totally not to watch as they continue downward into a Phantom train wreak. *cough cough*

* * *

The Case of the Home Invader

Summary: Even the best laid plans can be thwarted by adorable children.

* * *

"Hey mister? What are you doing in my house?"

The large, battle suit clad ghost nearly jumped right out of it, whirling around and charging up one of his wrist laser canons- before the ghost paused, frowning a little. Why, this was no foe! It was simply a tiny child. Putting the wrist blaster away, Skulker frowned a bit, not recalling his employer telling him that there was someone who could see ghosts here.

"I am here on a very important job, and I have no time for children." Skulker said after a moment, not feeling the need to divulge any details to this young boy. This must have been the son of the man he had been sent after, he guessed. Thus, the child had no need to know that Skulker had been sent here to make his father look weak in the face of his wife, so that she might instead flee to his employer's arms. Granted, Skulker didn't think that was a very _good _plan, but he wasn't about to question the man that he worked for.

"What kind of important job?" Danny asked, his blue eyes shining with interest. He had never seen a ghost like this one before! He looked like a big huge robot! "Are you a robot?" He asked him, inching towards the ghost, clearly not aware of the possible danger that he might be in.

"My mission here is none of your business, pup." Skulker said shortly. "And no, for your information, I am not a robot. This is just a battle suit, one of my own design. Now run along, it's much too late for children of your age to be awake anyways. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I had to go pee." Danny told him. "I did it all by myself!" He announced, grinning from ear to ear. "Momma worries that I'm not big enough, but I'm second grade, so I can do things on my own. But she never listens, and it's kind of 'mbarrassing."

"Ah yes, the overprotective mother." Skulker noted, raising a brow. Surely a child in the second grade would be more than capable of taking care of such matters themselves. "Well then, go on back to bed, pup, I've no time to waste. Any good hunter knows that time can be of the essence."

"You're a hunter?" Danny asked, tilting his head to the side. "What do you hunt, mister?"

Skulker groaned a little, realizing that he wasn't going to get rid of this child so easily. And it wasn't exactly in his nature to shoot prey that couldn't defend itself- small children were of no interest to him. "First of all, it's not mister. It's Skulker, Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!" He proclaimed in spite of himself. Announcing his title, however self selected, was something that never got old for him.

"And for your information, I hunt rare and unusual creatures. But, at the moment, I am not engaged in the hunt, but rather, working on a job my employer has given me." Skulker informed the small child. "Does that satisfy you, pup? If so, please, return to your room already."

"What's the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked, his eyes shining brightly, all but ignoring Skulker's last sentence. "Do you hunt rare ghosts? What makes a rare ghost? Lots of eyes? Is a ghost rare and unusual if it's covered in eyes or something? Cause I've never seen that before and I've been alive for seven whole years! I think it sounds really rare! And why do you need to work if you're a ghost? Is your boss nice? Dad says he could never work for a boss so that's why he's always been his own boss!"

"Slow down, child!" Skulker said, frowning. "So many questions at once. Haven't your parents ever told you to pace yourself?" He asked.

"Oh." Danny blinked, suddenly looking sheepish. "Sorry mister. Momma says sometimes I can get a little overexcited."

"Very well then, I suppose I can answer a few more questions." Skulker said after a moment. "The Ghost Zone is another world, connected to your own. It's where all the ghosts live." He told him, trying to keep the concept simple for the young child. He was, perhaps a bit too young to understand the concept of infinite realms, so he left out that detail. "As for your other question, yes I suppose a ghost covered in eyeballs would qualify as being rather unusual, though I've never seen one myself either."

"As for what makes a ghost rare and unusual- and it's not just ghosts I hunt, pup, it's all sorts of creatures. Why, last weak I bagged myself a pair of Siamese werewolf twins!" He told him, then frowned a little. "A Siamese twin is when two twins are born attached to each other, instead of apart." He explained, seeing the blank look on the boy's face.

"As for your last question, yes, I do have an employer. He's very rich so he pays me with hard to obtain components for my tech." He told the child.

"You sound like you live a real exciting life!" Danny said, and Skulker almost opened his mouth to tell the child that he was in fact, dead, but decided against it. "What's it like goin' to hunt stuff? Daddy takes me fishing sometimes! Is it like fishing?"

"A bit, I suppose." Skulker mused over this for a moment. "Patience and silence are often required in both pursuits. And I do sometimes engage in the hunting of aquatic creatures, although that's usually a far more dramatic affair than simply sitting around in a boat and waiting for something to latch onto bait. Are you any good at fishing, pup?"

"Not really." Danny shook his head. "Sometimes I catch fish though! One time I caught a fish that was _this _big!" He told Skulker, holding up his hands about two inches apart.

"I suppose that is an impressive catch for one of your size." Skulker noted. "Ah, but I have caught fish far bigger than you can even imagine, child." He told him, scooping up the boy and settling him down on his lap, having all but forgotten why he had come here in the first place. "Have you ever heard of the Kraken?"

"Is that like from the movie with the pirates?" Danny asked.

"I'm not certain, I'm afraid I'm not much interested in movies." Skulker frowned. "Did it have breath that smelled like rotting corpses, and was it rather invested in the sinking of ships?"

"Yeah!" Danny nodded his head. "It swallowed someone whole at the end of one of the movies." He whispered. "I wasn't supposed to watch it but I saw it over at Sam's place."

"Well then, that surely does sound like a Kraken." Skulker nodded his head. "They do have a nasty habit of swallowing people whole. Thankfully, as a ghost, I'm more than capable of phasing through objects. Still, it's not an experience that I would ever care to repeat. Ah, but it was a fearsome hunt though. It went on for hours, the bugger refused to give in no matter what. But I emerged triumphant! As of course, I always do."

"Do you get scared when you go hunting?" Danny asked, his eyes wide.

"Not at all!" Skulker shook his head. "When you are as experienced in the hunt as I am, there is no longer anything to fear! Also there's the small matter of already being dead, which never really hurts matters much."

"Did you hunt lots of stuff when you were alive too?" Danny asked, tilting his head.

"That I did! None so great and mighty as I do now, ah, but there were a few memorable hunts indeed." He told the boy. "Several long winters of tracking my most notorious prey, a great bear of a size more massive than you can even imagine! It was a wily one, but eventually through time, patience, and observation, I made it into a rather fine pelt on my wall!"

"You sound really _tough_, mister!" Danny said. "Tell me some more stories!" He told Skulker with a grin.

"Oh well, but of course!" Skulker grinned in spite of himself- it had been awhile since he had told anyone stories about his grand hunts! Ember, precious as she was to him, never really seemed to care all that much, and for some strange reason his prey didn't seem to much like hearing him ramble on about them either. He never really could figure out why. "Well, let's see, ah! There was the time when I chased the Behemoth throughout the Ghost Zone. Ah, now that was a challenging foe..."

Skulker droned on for what must have been half an hour, before he noticed that the excited boy in his arms was growing weary, and eventually, dozed right off against chest. "Ah well, it is just a little pup, after all." Skulker whispered, carefully taking the young boy into his arms, and attempting to figure where the child's bed was. Spotting a door that was open, he carefully floated into the room, tucking the boy back into his bed. The glowing green ghost dog that was at it's foot briefly stirred, but then simply rolled over on it's belly, starting to kick on leg in it's sleep as Skulker tucked the covers back over the young child.

Floating back out of the home, Skulker frowned a little to himself, wondering if he had come here to do something. For the life of him, after having such a good time going on about his hunting stories, he had completely forgotten what it was that he was even supposed to do.

Oh well- he was sure it was nothing important.


	5. The Case of the Temper Tantrum

Author's Note: Well hopefully you all should get an update for one of my ongoing long fics tonight, but I haven't been feeling my best lately so instead I spent last night writing this, ahahaha. Sorry about that. Oh well, mother/son bonding is always a good thing to write when you're feeling a bit down and so is Mama Bear Maddie, aww yeah.

This is set before Danny moved to Amity Park and met Sam and Tucker.

* * *

**The Case of the Temper Tantrums**

Characters: Danny Fenton, Maddie Fenton

Summary: He was just a normal boy, only with a few differences- this was one of them.

* * *

She had a bad feeling from the moment she heard the phone first ring.

When the voice on the other end had dispensed of all pleasantries, instead screaming at her over the phone to 'Do something about your monster child!' she knew that her worries were justified.

She practically pushed the gas pedal through the floor of the car in her effort to get to her son's elementary school fast enough, nearly avoiding several collisions on the way there. She slammed into the parking lot, the car's tires screeching as she slid into a parking spot with enough skill to make a professional racer cry out of envy. Maddie Fenton was out of that car in the blink of an eye, dashing towards her son's classroom, where she found all of the students huddled outside of, along with their teacher, who glared at her as the woman ran up.

"_Get him out of my class_." The woman hissed, pointing towards the door, which had been shut tightly. "What the hell kind of a child do you have anyways?!" She almost spat at her. "That boy isn't normal!"

"So you just trapped him _alone _in the classroom?" Maddie retorted, turning her own fury back on the woman who was _supposed _to be her son's first grade teacher. "He's five years old! He's only throwing a tantrum, for God's sake."

"God has nothing to do with that _devil child _of yours." The woman hissed, refusing to back down, even if Maddie's glower was rather intimidating. "That's not a temper tantrum- you're lucky I just didn't call an _exorcist_!"

"I'm going to see to it that you're fired later." Maddie told her, eyes narrowing as she threw open the door to the first grade classroom, shutting it behind her. Sure enough, there was her son, left behind all alone in the classroom- although it didn't seem as if he had noticed this yet, too caught in the throes of his own tantrum. She noticed with a bit of fury that he was bleeding from a small cut on his forehead, and glared back towards the door, wondering exactly which one of those little brats had done that to her precious baby boy.

The lights in the room were currently going crazy- those that hadn't been blown out, that is, flickering on and off, static jumping between them. The computer left on the teacher's desk was making a noise that they normally weren't supposed to make, flipping between a wild array of colors. The chairs surrounding her son were vibrating and shaking against the floor, stray papers caught up in the air around him by the amount of static charge going through the air.

And her son was in the center of it, crying his eyes out, sparks crackling not only from his tears, but from the small child himself, leaping out, much larger than the normally harmless bits of static that sometimes leapt from his hair. He was all but curled up into a ball, clutching his body close to himself.

"Danny!" Maddie called out, trying to get her son's attention. "Danny, honey, it's okay." She called out, coming towards him, ignoring the prickling sensation she got on her skin as she came closer, all but falling to her knees in front of her child, scooping him up into her arms and holding him tight. Her skin practically crackled with static electricity as she did so, and she could almost _feel _her hair stand on end, but she ignored it, bringing the boy close to her, cradling him tight. "It's okay honey, shush. Mommy's here."

She held him tight for what must have been several long minutes before his tears finally slowed down, and blue eyes peered towards his mother. **"Momma?" **He spoke, his voice cracking a little, slipping without thinking into ghost speak. That was a word she was familiar with, however, he said it enough for her to recognize it.

"Yes, honey." Maddie said soothingly, pulling away a little bit, smiling at her son, gently petting her head. "It's okay honey, mommy's here now. After this we're going to leave class and go get you some ice cream, okay?" She told him. "You can get all the toppings you like on it, and you can tell me everything. So calm down, sweetie."

**"I didn't do anything wrong!" **Danny blurted out, the lights surging again in response to his emotions. One of them in the back blew out altogether, unable to take it anymore, letting out a shower of sparks. **"The teacher said to make a card to give a good friend, an' all I did was try an' give it to Cathy! Everyone else started sayin' I had to give it to a real person, an' then the teacher ripped up the card an' said I had to stop playin' with my imaginary friends!"**

Context wasn't helping Maddie much now, so she did the only thing she knew how to do, which was to hold her son close to her, her grasp on him gentle. "It's okay, honey. It's okay. Remember what mommy said, Danny? You need to take deep breaths." She told him, continuing to stroke his hair. "Everything's going to be fine."

The little boy sniffed some more, falling back into his mother's chest, sobbing his eyes out once more, gripping tightly to the fabric of her shirt. But slowly, the clattering of the tables and chairs stopped, and the flickering of the lights as well, the classroom slowly returning to a scene of normalcy.

"That's my boy." Maddie said, scooping him up in her arms, getting to her feet. "First let's do something about that nasty cut of yours." She said, setting him down on a desk. "And then we'll go get ice cream, okay?"

Not seeming to trust his voice, Danny slowly nodded his head, sitting on the edge of the table while his mother pulled out a first aid kit from her bag, opening it up. Pulling out a bit of gauze, she quickly cleaned the wound, which thankfully, was not all that deep. Pausing to kiss her son's forehead, she removed a band aid from the kit, carefully placing it over the cut. "There." She said, ruffling her son's hair, before putting the first aid kit back away, and picking her son up again, setting him back down.

"Go get your things, Danny." She told him. "And you and I will go and have a fun time together. Okay?"

"Okay." Danny said, nodding his head, finally speaking in English again. Wiping away a stray tear with the end of his sleeve, he made his way to his desk, taking his little backpack, the one with a print of a rocketship in space on it, and gathered his things, putting them inside. Sniffing again, he started to pick up pieces of the ripped card, putting them carefully away in the front of his bag, so that they couldn't get anymore ripped. He could fix it and give it to Cathy later- it wasn't nice of his teacher and their classmates to pretend that she didn't exist! There was someone else always sitting at her desk too, so the little ghost girl was always sad.

Danny had just wanted to see her smile. Why had the teacher gotten so mad at him?

"Momma?" Danny asked, looking up at her, putting his backpack on.

"Yes, sweetie?" She asked, looking down at him, a gentle smile on her face. "What is it?"

"Why am I so different from everyone else?" He asked her, his blue eyes filled with confusion- and worry, worry that there was something wrong with him because he was different.

"I don't know." Maddie admitted after a moment, taking her son's hand. "But it's okay that you're different, Danny. You shouldn't be ashamed of that." She told him. "There's nothing wrong with the way that you are. If other people don't understand it, that's their problem, not yours. You're still a very normal child, sweetie, don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise."

"Mm." Danny nodded slowly, clasping his mother's hand in his own, though the way that there still seemed to be doubt in his eyes grabbed at Maddie's heart. Her son was five years old, he shouldn't be grappling with such issues already!

"Come on, let's go get that ice cream." She said, smiling as she lead her son towards the door, making sure to keep a hold of his hand. He was gripping it tightly, as if he couldn't stand without it, but she didn't mind. She opened the door and stepped outside, leading Danny out, who kept his feet rooted to the ground. Some of the students who had been closest to the door skittered away a little, avoiding any physical contact with her son.

"Oh good, you managed to calm him down. Now we need to discuss the matter of you compensating the school for the damage to the classroom, because that is _not _coming out of my paycheck." The teacher said, glaring at Maddie. "Furthermore I'm going to be making arrangements to keep your little devil child out of my class. You should be home schooling that little monster, not bringing him into the public where other normal children can be exposed to him! What if one of them gets hurt?"

"The only person who got hurt today was _my _son." Maddie told her, barely able to contain her fury, especially after Danny's grip on her hand tightened. "I would advise you to shut your mouth."

"I most certainly will _not_." The old woman gasped, looking appalled that someone had just told her to be quiet. "I thought your child was just mentally disturbed, but that boy is barely a child! Get him out of my school, I never want to see him in my class _again_."

That was about all she could take, and briefly letting go of Danny's hand, she whirled on the woman in anger, clenching her fist and punching her square in the jaw. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Maddie ignored the shocked cries of the rest of the students, and picked up her son, storming out of the elementary school. Oh, that teacher would never see her again, but that was only because she would never allow her son to be around that hateful windbag for even one second longer.

"Momma?" Danny spoke up quietly then, looking up at her, his voice barely a whisper. "I'm not a devil child, am I?"

"No." Maddie shook her head, kissing her son on the forehead again. "You're my little angel. Now, let's get out of here before someone calls the cops, because mommy _probably _shouldn't have just done that."


	6. The Case of the Wild West

Author's Note: Yesterday's phanniemay theme was Western, and thus I came up with this oneshot for Crimebusters, in which kids attempt to play cowboy, but get very distracted along the way, as children are wont to do. As a reminder, all dialogue in **bold text** is in ghost speak.

* * *

The Case of the Wild West

Summary: Kids doing what kids like to do best- playing pretend.

* * *

"Are they ready yet, momma?" Her son peeked his mess of black hair over the edge of the table, standing on his tip toes so that he could peer over the edge at what she was working on.

"Almost, sweetie." Maddie told him. "Just a few more little touches here and there and- done!" She grinned, putting away her tools and pulling her hood and goggles off, turning towards Danny. "Take these to your little friends, and they should clear things up a bit for them." Maddie told him, handing him the items she had been working on. A pair of special goggles, much like her own, but in a much smaller size. "The purple one is for Sam, and the yellow ones are for Tucker."

"Okay momma! We're going to go play in the backyard! We're gonna be cowboys!" Danny told her, grinning from ear to ear, waving at his mother before he hurried to the back door. She could hear him shout to his friends as he raced outside. "Momma finished em guys! Tucker, did you bring the water guns?!"

"Yeah, I got a whole bunch!" Tucker grinned from ear to ear, the six year old emptying a backpack filled with plastic water guns, in a wide variety of colors. "There was a sale at the toy store, so mom just scooped up a lot of them. She says you guys can keep some if you want to."

"The purple ones are mine!" Sam grinned, all but diving for two purple water guns, grinning as she aimed one at Tucker, pulling the trigger. Of course, since there was no water in them at the moment, nothing happened. "If this was a real gun, you'd be dead, Tucker. How are you ever going to be a real detective if you can't dodge a bullet?"

"Sam, I'm pretty sure even real detectives can't dodge bullets." Tucker pointed out.

"Miss Valerie can!" Sam huffed. "_Probably_."

"I'm not sure even Miss Valerie can do that." Danny shook his head, before remembering that he had something to give his friends. "Oh right! Momma made these for you guys!" He told them excitedly, handing them each one of the pairs of goggles. "She says they'll help you see ghosts more like I do when you wear them! That way we can play with Youngblood today even better!"

**"I still don't see why you're using water guns." **The ghost observed. He was no longer dressed as a pirate, instead today, was dressed up as a cowboy, complete with a wide brimmed hat. **"Pellet guns are where it's at!"**

**"Momma says someone could get hurt usin' pellet guns." **Danny told him with a small frown, glancing over towards the ghost who had been floating next to him the whole time. **"She said we hafta use water guns or nothing."**

"_Ooh_!" Sam squealed, affixing the purple goggles to her face. "I can see you better Youngie! You're still kinda blurry though." She noted. "You sure do look like the part of a cowboy though."

"Really?" Tucker asked, looking down at his goggles, putting them on. Maddie had adjusted them so that they would fit snugly over his glasses, and provide no interference with the lenses. "Neat! I can see you, sort of!"

"See?" Danny grinned from ear to ear, picking up a blue and red water gun. "Isn't my momma the coolest?" He asked them, rocking back and forth on his feet from excitement.

**"Yeah, well, you tell that girl to keep her cooties away from me still." **Youngblood frowned, eying Sam warily.

**"Sam doesn't have cooties! She had all her shots an' stuff." **Danny huffed. "Sam, you don't have cooties right? Youngblood thinks you do still!"

Sam paused, considering something before opening her mouth, a devilish smirk appearing on her face. "Why yes, I do have cooties!" She declared, grinning widely, raising her arms and walking towards Youngblood. "I'm the cootie monster, and I shall infect all boys!"

**"No, keep her away from me!" **Youngblood yelped, ducking behind Danny, cowering behind the boy.

"Sam, cooties aren't real." Tucker said, taking two yellow water guns for himself. "That's a scientific fact. I know, I asked my mom about it and she says that they don't exist."

"Awww, you're such a spoilsport Tucker." Sam pouted, glowering at her friends. "I was just teasing him a little. No big deal."

"Come on guys, we're never going to get started this way!" Danny whined, pouting a little. Assured that the girl in fact, was not infected with Cooties, Youngblood picked up the two remaining water guns, green in color. To anyone else, it would have appeared as if they were simply floating in midair. "We need to choose who is gonna be the bad guy, and who is gonna be the good guys."

**"I'll be a robber!" **Youngblood said quickly, before pausing. **"Don't we need water for these, though?"**

"Oh no!" Danny gasped, putting his water guns down. "I forgot the hose and the bucket!" There was a bark then that got his attention, and he turned, before grinning brightly, kneeling down to pet his canine friend on the head. "Cujo! You brought the hose!" He said, spotting the ghost dog trailing the house behind him. "Good boy! What a good boy you are!"

"Oh so that's what Cujo looks like as a puppy." Sam said, pouting a little. "He looks a lot less tough than when he's all big. I was expecting something meaner!"

"Hey, if we're gonna have good guys, they're gonna need a noble stead! We can use Cujo for that!" Tucker said. "I wanna be the sheriff! Sam can be my deputy!"

"_Eeeeeh_?" Danny looked up, a few tears forming in his eyes. "But that means I gotta be a robber! I wanna be a _good _guy, not a bad guy!"

"But you're the only one who can understand Youngie, Danny." Sam pointed out. "Besides, it's just a game. I would rather be a bad guy, cause we get to break things an' stuff and knock things over!"

**"Yeah, you should be on my team kid!" **Youngblood grinned, wrapping his arm around Danny. **"We still need that bucket though, you know. Where do you attach this hose to anyways?"**

**"I dun wanna be a bad guy." **Danny pouted again, kicking the ground. "But okay. I'll be the bad guy this round, but next time I'm gonna be the sheriff!" He told them, perking up when they nodded in agreement. "Okay! Cujo, go fetch the bucket boy!"

The small ghost dog parked in response, rushing back towards the house, as Danny hooked up the hose to the water socket. He gave it a few twists, the stubborn thing not wanting to turn, before it finally gave way, the suddenness of it causing him to fall over on his butt. He laughed a little, as water started to spray out of the house, and got back to his feet, just in time for Cujo to rush back out of the house, clanging the bucket that he held in his teeth behind him.

"Okay, we all fill up our guns an' then we walk ten paces away from each other!" Danny told them, picking up the hose and starting to fill the bucket up with water. **"No going all intangible, Youngblood, cause that ain't fair to us." **Ignoring the ghost's pout, Danny finished filling up the bucket, turning off the hose so his mother wouldn't get mad about making the backyard all muddy, and hurried to fetch his own water guns. "If you get hit five times you're out! The last person standing means that team won."

"I'm gonna cream you two!" Sam grinned, hurrying over to the water bucket, sticking both of her water guns in and sucking some of it up with them. "Just you wait, you both best be ready to get wet!"

"**Dream on, sister, we're going to crush you like bugs!" **Youngblood yelled out. **"I mean, uh, we're going to show you... uh. How do you talk like a cowboy, Danny?" **He asked, looking over towards the raven haired boy.

**"I dunno. I think you say partner a lot or something. And sometimes you spit." **Danny shrugged his shoulder, joining Tucker as they both filled up their own guns.

"Come on, deputy Sam, let's show these two robbers what real law enforcement people are made out of!" Tucker grinned, having now filled up both of his guns, scurrying towards the center of the yard.

"Yeah, we're gonna kick your butts!" Sam shouted, running after Tucker, who whined again, reminding her that she couldn't say butts. "Shut up, Tucker, Mr. Lancer isn't here, I can say butts all I want! Butts, butts, butts, _BUTTS_!"

"C'mon guys, we'll never get started if we keep this up!" Danny whined, hurrying to join his friends, Youngblood floating behind him. "I bet _real _cowboys didn't bicker with their friends so much."

"Real cowboys were a bunch of big babies cause there weren't any lady ones!" Sam shouted, grinning as she giggled to herself. "Besides, I'm not a cowboy after all!" She declared, pointing her water gun at Tucker, and squirting it towards him. "I'm actually an alien invader, and you're all my enemies!"

"Oh no, a plot twist!" Danny cried out, shrieking as Sam squirted her water gun towards him, the cool water splashing against his face. Apparently any rules that they had thought up before were thrown out of the window, resulting in a water gun free for all. The children scampered about the yard, grinning and laughing at each other as they all ended up completely soaked, especially after Sam got it in her head to just turn the house on the other three, laughing as she did so.

When Maddie came outside to tell them that she had made some cookies for snack time, she blinked a little, shaking her head. It was a good thing she had thought to prepare some dry clothes ahead of time.


	7. The Case of Mother's Day

Author's Note: Hey, so it was mother's day back on Sunday, which was when I wrote this! It was also Maddie + Kids day on the Phanniemay calender, so doing something like this made perfect sense! A cute little Fenton family Crimebusters fic.

Danny Phantom does not belong to me.

* * *

**The Case of Mother's Day**

Characters: Maddie Fenton, Danny Fenton, Jazz Fenton, Jack Fenton, Cujo

Summary: She knew that her son was working on something, and she was very eager to find out what.

* * *

Maddie didn't need to be a genius to be able to tell that her son was making something for her. With Mother's Day coming up, Danny had begun collecting spare odds and ends from around the house, and had been talking in hushed whispers with his father, who would only give his wife a small smile whenever she asked him about it. The six year old boy had band aids wrapped around just about every finger, and a big one on his hand where he had scraped it and given himself a large, but thankfully shallow, cut.

Whenever Maddie tried to peek into his room and see what he was doing, Danny would shut her out. "Noooo~!" He would whine, trying to push against the door to keep her from coming in. "Momma, it's not _done _yet! You can't come in!"

So Maddie had resigned herself to waiting, and helping Danny bandage up his fingers and clean his cuts and scrapes when he needed her to. Her clumsy little son, never very coordinated with his hands, was putting all this effort into making something for her, so she couldn't exactly discourage him from doing it.

When the day finally arrived, Maddie was greeted by Jazz and Danny, ready to present her with breakfast in bed. Pancakes, made by Jazz, Fenton Toast, from her husband, and a messy mush of scrambled eggs from Danny which he said he had made 'totally on his own with only a _little _help from Jazz!'.

After she had eaten, she had been escorted downstairs by a very excited Danny, who held her hand in his tiny one, still covered with band aids. "Just you wait momma!" He said, grinning from ear to ear. "You're going to be so surprised!"

"I'm sure I will." Maddie said, ruffling her son's hair, who giggled, sparking a little with excitement.

"Ah, here's the lovely lady this day is all about!" Jack declared, grinning from ear to ear as he spotted his wife. He had managed to remember mother's day this time, thanks to Jazz and Danny, so for once, he had a present for her. Embarrassingly enough though, he had nearly forgotten his _own _mother, and had to scramble to send her a fruit basket at the last minute.

Maddie flushed a little in spite of herself, letting Danny lead her to sit down on the couch, where there was an array of presents waiting for her on the table. Once seated, she felt a slight weight on her legs, and a hint of a chill in the air, and seconds later, felt the sensation of a big, wet kiss being given to her face.

"Cujo, no!" Danny whined, picking up the ghost puppy and putting him back on the floor, pausing to scratch the dog's ears. "Momma can't open presents if you're in her lap. You gotta wait in line, just like everyone else!"

"Well, I have to say this is all very nice." Maddie said, smiling a little as her son jumped on the couch next to her, scooching up close. He kicked his bare feet against the sofa in excitement, eager no doubt, to see his mother get to the present that he had worked so hard on.

"I bought you this, Maddie." Jack said, picking up a rather large box and handing it over to her. "I saw you looking at it in the store the other day, and I thought you might like it."

"Oh?" Maddie asked, unwrapping the present. "Oh, this is the new cookware set I was looking at! I thought we didn't have it in our budget to replace the old pots and pans until next year, Jack!"

"I shifted some money around." Jack told her with a grin. "Used some of the cash I had saved up for my rainy day fudge reserve." He said. "I know how frustrated you're getting with that old cookware of ours, so I thought I would get you something better." Maddie had never really been one for frivolous gifts, after all, his wife liked the practical things better.

"That's so sweet of you honey." Maddie smiled at him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She could hear Danny make a 'meep!' next to her, reaching down to possibly cover Cujo's eyes.

"Here's mine." Jazz spoke up, handing Maddie a slender package. "I bought it using some of my tutoring money."

"Thank you honey." Maddie smiled at her, carefully unwrapping the package. Her daughter's wrapping was always very neat, but she had a tendency to use far too much tape. It took some doing, but eventually she opened it up, finding a case with a very nice fountain pen inside of it, in aquamarine, the same color as her hazmat suit, in fact. "Oh this is very nice. Where did you get this?" She asked her, picking it up and holding it in her hands. "It has a nice feel to it."

"At the office supply store." Jazz told her. "I thought it was nice because it matched your jumpsuit."

"Well thank you, honey. It's very thoughtful. I'll make sure to put it to good use." She said, putting the pen away, someplace safe. As she did, she heard the sound of a squeaky toy, and shortly afterwards, a tiny pink bear dropped in her lap, and she could feel the weight of two tiny paws on her knee.

"And this is from Cujo, I take it?" Maddie asked, lifting up the squeaky toy, giving it a small squeak. "Well that's very thoughtful of you, Cujo." She told him, and could feel the dog's weight leaving her knees, and heard her son shriek a little as the dog jumped back in his lap. She would hold onto to it and put it on a shelf for awhile, and then give it back to the ghost dog a few weeks later, when he forgot about it.

"Me next, momma!" Danny grinned, scratching the ghost dog underneath the ears. "I made it special!"

"Oh you did, did you?" Maddie asked, picking up the last of the unwrapped presents. Danny had no doubt wrapped it himself too, given the rather disjointed job and the heaps and heaps of tape attached to it. Still, she managed to get it open, smiling a little when she saw what was in her hands.

It was a handmade picture frame, put together from wood, that had been painted more or less the color of her jumpsuit. There was a mixture of little stickers attached to the frame, glow in the dark ghosts and planets. The frame itself was a bit oddly shaped, and looked a little disjointed, but it held within it a family photo that she remembered, from their trip to the beach.

There was Jack, looking rather grumpy and sunburned without his jumpsuit, which he had quickly grown attached to since they had started wearing them for work. And then there she was, smiling and holding Danny in her arms, who was holding up a big sand dollar that he had found, a huge grin on his face and a hint of sunburn across his nose. Jazz stood off to the left of her, smiling beneath a pair of sunglasses. There was a faint blur around Danny's head, which Maddie recalled was Cujo, the dog having a fondness for lying on top of there at times.

"Oh Danny, it's _wonderful_." Maddie said, leaning down to kiss her son on the forehead. "Thank you."

But really, perhaps the best gift she had gotten all day was the beaming smile on her son's face, and the way his eyes lit up when she complimented him on his work. She really did love her family.


	8. The Case of Man's Best Friend

Author's Note: Cujo fic for Cujo day of Phanniemay! Because what are the Crimebusters without their trusty pal and loyal mascot?

Danny Phantom does not belong to me.

* * *

**The Case of Man's Best Friend**

Characters: Cujo, Crimebusters

Summary: A dog is a boy's best friend.

* * *

The little dog hurried behind his boy, having to race to keep up with his quick steps as he hurried to meet his friends in the school courtyard. Cujo let out a joyful bark as they approached, and his boy waved his hand, calling out the names of his companions. They turned to look at him, both faces lighting up with smiles as they spotted Danny. They couldn't see Cujo though, not unless he got all big, the ghost dog had learned to his great regret, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't give them a proper greeting!

Cujo took a flying leap, pouncing on Tucker, giving the bespectacled boy such a big kiss that it knocked his glasses right off. He felt his boy reaching his hands around his waist, lightly scolding him that his actions had been 'bad!'. Cujo let out a low whine, looking back at his boy, and the small child couldn't stay mad long, and in the end, rewarded Cujo with snuggles, nuzzling his head into the dog's stomach.

Cujo was happy when his boy set him back down, letting out a loud bark as she hopped excitedly on his feet, wondering what kind of adventure that they would get into today! His boy and his friends were always getting into adventures! And Cujo was their faithful companion! Wherever his boy needed to go, Cujo would always be there to help him. After all, before his boy, Cujo had been very lonely- nobody could see him!

Then Danny had come along, and Cujo was happy again. It had been a long time since he had a boy! He couldn't really remember what happened to his last one, his memory was awfully fuzzy in places, but Cujo knew that he was going to spend the rest of his life with this one. The ghost dog didn't seem to have much of an understanding of it's nature as a ghost, only knowing that most of the time, regular people couldn't see him. If he turned into a big dog, they could, but Cujo had quickly come to learn that turning into a big dog just scared away some people, and he didn't want that!

"Well Danny, are you ready to bust the mystery behind the vanishing candy?" Sam asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"It's lunchtime now, and the victim claims that some of the candy in her bowl goes missing during lunchtime." Tucker reported, looking over his little book. "The victim is Miss Moore, the fourth grade teacher." He told them, closing his book and shoving it into one of his cargo pockets.

"And she asked for our help to figure out whose behind it?" Danny asked excitedly, practically sparking from it. "Cujo, that means we got our first school case!" He reported to the ghost dog excitedly, heedless of the odd looks he got from bystanders.

Cujo let out a sharp bark, wagging his tail furiously, excited and happy that his boy was excited and happy! He didn't have any idea about what was going on, but if his boy was happy, then that was all that mattered to the little dog.

"Yeah, we'll show that candy thief whose boss." Sam grinned, flexing one of her arms and blowing out some steam. "I'll show 'em that nobody crosses the Crimebusters!"

"Well, I don't think they're trying to cross us Sam." Tucker said, pushing up his glasses. "I don't even think they know we are around."

"Of course they do Tucker! We're the Crimebusters! We bust crime 'an stuff!" Sam exclaimed, still beaming. "I don't care if it's fourth graders, I'll show 'em how tough I am!"

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Sam." Tucker hesitated, looking warily over towards Danny. "I think we should just tell the teacher after we find out."

"Well we're never going to solve the mystery if we just stand _here_." Danny huffed, picking up Cujo, scooping the small dog into his arms. "See Cujo wants to get going too, don't you Cujo?"

Cujo barked, wagging his tail some more, turning to look at his boy. Yeah! Whatever his boy wanted to do, Cujo wanted to do as well! Well, at least if it didn't involve his boy's predisposition of climbing up to the top of tall places, at least. He wasn't sure why his boy did that when he couldn't get down, but he guessed his boy wasn't all that bright sometimes. But that was okay, because he had Cujo here to look after him, and he would make sure that his boy was always safe! If Cujo's mommy and daddy or the big girl couldn't watch over him, then it was Cujo's job to take care of him!

"Well then, if the Crimebusters mascot wants to start, we shall!" Sam declared, grinning as she hurried inside the school building, zooming past Mr. Lancer, who yelled after her to walk. Tucker and Danny hurried to catch up with her, and at that point, Lancer just threw up his hands, shaking his head and wondering why he ever thought teaching elementary school was a good idea. Surely high school students would be far more well behaved.

They hurried towards the fourth grade classrooms, Sam leading the charge with Danny carrying Cujo in tow, and Tucker trailing behind them, barely able to keep up. They had to stop once, because Danny tripped and fell flat on his face, but thankfully emerged unharmed, laughing it off. They made it to the fourth grade classroom that Tucker had marked in his notes, and he double checked to make sure that they would be hiding out in the right one.

The three children all hurried and clustered underneath the teacher's desk, Danny holding Cujo tightly in his arms. The little dog peered up at him, licking his chin, causing Danny to snort and giggle, until he was shushed by Sam and Tucker. Of course, after a few minutes of silence, Sam started to giggle a little herself, and Tucker joined in, and before long, all three of them were giggling at each other. However, when they heard the sound of footsteps approaching, they quickly exchanged glances, each of them elbowing each other to shut up.

The footsteps stopped outside of the classroom, as if they were looking around to see if anyone was there. The trio all held their breaths, and Danny covered Cujo's mouth, even though nobody else could hear the dog's barking. After a moment, the footsteps came towards the teacher's desk, and they could hear hands rifling around in the candy bowl set on the top of it.

Exchanging glances with each other, Danny gave them a thumbs up, and they all nodded their heads. Counting silently off from three, at one, the trio jumped out, surrounding each end of the desk. A startled fourth grader jumped backwards, taking a fistful of candy with him, not looking like he was planned on being assaulted by second graders today.

"We've caught you red handed, thief!" Danny declared, grinning from ear to ear, sparking from excitement as he pointed rather dramatically towards the boy. "Drop the candy and fess up your crimes!"

"Yeah, or we'll beat it out of you!" Sam grinned, pounding her fist into an open hand, eyes sparkling with excitement at the possibility of being very violent.

"W-well, maybe not beat it out of you." Tucker stammered, sweating a little, though he did his best to look brave. He didn't understand how Sam and Danny did it, to be honest. "B-but you should turn yourself in! If you steal candy from the candy bowl, that's less for the other kids to have, and that's not fair at all!"

The fourth grade kid, a tall boy with a shock of dark brown hair sticking out from underneath a cap, steadied himself upon realizing that the people confronting him were just a bunch of second graders- and one of them was a girl! "Oh please." The boy rolled his eyes, shoving his stolen candy inside his pockets. "What could any of you do? You're just tiny brats! And that one's even a _girl!_" He snorted, looking at Sam.

"Oh no you_ didn't._" Sam snarled, and launched herself at the fourth grader, who yelped, not having time to defend himself from the younger girl, who promptly knocked him to the ground. "You got a problem with girls, mister!? I'll whoop your butt!"

"Hey whoa, ease off crazy girl!" The fourth grader backed up, holding up his hands. "Come on kids, I'll even let you take some of the candy too. You kids like that stuff, right?"

"No way!" Danny shook his head, crossing his arms firmly over his chest. "We're the Crimebusters! We don't do no crimes but we put the bad guys away! That's the Crimebusters' motto! Never let the bad guys get away no matter whats!"

"Crimebusters?" The kid sneered. "Oh wait, I've heard of you little brats. And you, you're that weird kid everyone's talking about!" The fourth grade boy said, pointing towards Danny. "They say you can see ghosts or something, but I just think you're a crazy kid."

"He's not crazy!" Sam protested, clenching her fists. "Don't you dare talk that way about my friend! We've got a ghost right here even!" She said, pointing a finger at the fourth grader.

"Oh yeah, but can you _prove _it?" The boy sneered, getting to his feet, getting ready to make a break from it, away from these crazy kids and their attack girl scout.

Cujo frowned at this older boy, knowing enough to know that he was upsetting his boy and his friends. And Cujo didn't like that one bit! He let out a sharp bark, and concentrated, letting out an even louder bark as he turned bigger, and to his great triumph, the mean boy's eyes turned wide and he grew pale as a sheet, before he fainted away dead on his feet.

"Cujo!" Danny pouted, crossing his arms in front of him, looking rather cross with the big dog. "I told you not to go big in front of people! You're gonna scare 'em! Now look at this kid!"

"D-Danny." Tucker stammered, growing pale, color draining from his face as he looked at the hulking, glowing green dog in front of them. "I-is that Cujo?" He stammered.

"You didn't tell us he could get all big!" Sam said, her eyes going wide, clearly impressed by this. "Do you know what this means Tucker?" She asked, her violet eyes shining with excitement.

"W-what?" Tucker stammered, swallowing a little even as the now very large ghost dog sat down, wagging his tail, staring at his boy, perplexed, as he seemed to be angry with him.

"We could _ride _him!" Sam declared, throwing up her arms. "Danny your dog is the coolest!"

"Eh?" Danny blinked, faintly turning red, a crackle of sparks shooting from his head as he scratched it, laughing a little. "Thanks, Sam! This is Cujo's big form, but he's not allowed to do it lots because it's kind of scary! Cujo, little!" He demanded, turning back to the dog, pouting again.

The big ghost dog tilted his head, letting out a loud bark, before shrinking down into it's smaller size, fading from view of Sam and Tucker. His boy looked a little mad at him, so he had better do what he wanted!

Tucker gulped, feeling a little bit better now that he didn't have the ghost dog staring him in the face. "W-what are we gonna do with this guy?" He asked, glancing over at the fourth grader, who was now gurgling.

"Someone should go get Miss Smith." Danny told him, picking up Cujo and holding the dog close so that he couldn't slip away again and do something naughty.

"I'll do it!" Tucker quickly volunteered.

"And I'll stay and make sure that if he wakes up, he goes right back to sleep!" Sam grinned, cracking her knuckles, then wincing a little, shaking them out. "Oh, that seemed less painful on television." She said to herself.

"We'll watch the boy. You go get Miss Smith, Tucker, so we can properly make the arrest!" Danny grinned, looking over towards his friend. Oh no, he noticed- Tucker looked a little scared. He bit his lip a little, wondering if the boy wouldn't want to be friends with him after this. "Tucker, you weren't scared were you?" He asked after a moment. "Of Cujo?"

"A little." Tucker admitted, but seemed to catch Danny's drift. "B-but it's kind of cool, now that I think about it!" He said quickly. "I'll go get that teacher, and we can close this case, okay?"

"Okay!" Danny said, eyes brightening. That was great! Tucker still wanted to be friends with him. Snuggling Cujo a little as the bespectacled boy hurried off towards the lunch room, Danny grinned to himself, feeling pleased as ever that his friend count had increased to three.

Cujo, naturally counted as his first best friend- after all, that's what they said, right? A dog was a boy's best friend!


End file.
